October, 2003

Vol. 20, No. 10 U.S.A. $3.50

October 2003

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ABOUT RCSD

TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 "Soaring Site" ....................................................................................... Judy Slates Editorial ........................................................................................... F3J Team Selection Write-Up ...................................................................................................... SOSS Aero Tow Event Photos ...............................................................................................................................House of Balsa 4 "On The Wing..." ....................................................................... Bill & Bunny Kuhlman Flying Wing Design & Analysis .................................. Twist Distributions for Swept Wings, Part 5 12 Sailplane Tool & Adhesive Applications ........................................... Paula Garwood ......................................................................................... Hidden Treasure in the Balsa Dungeon 14 "The Sloper's Resource" ...................................................................... Greg Smith Slope Flying Resources ............................................................................... Learning to Slope Fly 16 "Gordy's Travels" .................................................................................. Gordy Stahl Flying Techniques .................................................................... Home in - On the Range... Check! 18 AMA .............................................................................................. Dr. Sandy Frank How AMA Elections Work ........ Please read no further unless you are interested in AMA politics.

/C Soaring Digest (RCSD) is a readerwritten monthly publication for the R/C sailplane enthusiast and has been published since January, 1984. It is dedicated to sharing technical and educational information. All material contributed must be exclusive and original and not infringe upon the copyrights of others. It is the policy of RCSD to provide accurate information. Please let us know of any error that significantly affects the meaning of a story. Because we encourage new ideas, the content of all articles, model designs, press & news releases, etc., are the opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect those of RCSD. We encourage anyone who wishes to obtain additional information to contact the author. RCSD was founded by Jim Gray, lecturer and technical consultant. RCSD should not be considered to endorse any advertised products or messages pertaining hereto. An advertising rate card is available for businesses, and clubs. R/C Soaring Digest 556 Funston Drive Santa Rosa, CA 95407 phone: (707) 578-7871 e-mail: rcsdigest@aol.com http://www.b2streamlines.com/RCSD.html RCSD Staff Jerry Slates - Editor/Technical Editor Judy Slates - Managing Editor, Subscriptions Lee Murray - RCSD Index/Database (available on-line) Bill & Bunny Kuhlman - RCSD Web Masters PayPal Coordinators Feature Columnists Bill & Bunny Kuhlman (B2), Lee Murray, Tom Nagel, Mark Nankivil, Dave Register, Steve Savoie, Jerry Slates, Greg Smith, Gordy Stahl Artwork Gene Zika is the graphic artist who designs the unique ZIKA clip art.

on't forget to check out the RCSD web pages each month. Cover photographs are always available for viewing, and usually available for downloading, as well. Special article .pdf files are frequently available for a limited time, and of course our web masters update the highlights and status information of each issue as it becomes available.

Advertiser Index
3 11 19 19 19 19 19 19 Cavazos Sailplane Design R/C Soaring Digest Events 13 Tangerine - FL
OTHER GOOD STUFF

Special Interest Groups Eastern Soaring League (ESL) International Scale Soaring Assoc. League of Silent Flight Sailplane Homebuilders Association T.W.I.T.T. Vintage Sailplane Association

19 Classified Ads - New Products 17 Schedule of Special Events

RCSD ON THE WEB

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Copyright 2003 R/C Soaring Digest. All rights reserved.

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Monthly Feature Photography & Web Version of the Printed Article (where appropriate) Highlights & Mailing Status of the Current Issue About RCSD ..................................................................................... Subscription Information ................................................... Advertising Rate Card (Adobe Acrobat PDF format) ............................................. RCSD Feature Columnists, Reporters, and Editors ....................... (E-mail/web addresses, plus general information about their areas of interest) "Getting Started in RC Soaring" ........ Getting started guide - Adobe Acrobat PDF format Links to Organizations, Special Interest Groups & Clubs On-Line Articles - Great articles originally written for the printed version of RCSD. ........................................ "Trimming Your Sailplane for Optimum Performance" by Brian Agnew .................................................................................................. "Flys Faster" by Dr. Michael Selig .............................. "The Square-Cube Law and Scaling for RC Sailplanes" by Dr. Michael Selig .................................. "Modifying & Building the MB Raven (Parts 1-4)" by Bill & Bunny Kuhlman ............................................................. "Butterfly and Moth Airbrushing Tutorial" by Joedy Drulia Bookshelf Listings - A listing of recently published books of interest to aeromodelers. Complete RCSD Index, 1984-2002

R/C Soaring Digest

The Soaring Site

F3J Team Selection Write-up

im Bacus, Member of the Chicago SOAR club, has done an in-depth write-up on the F3J Team Selection complete with photographs. It is available for viewing at: http://www.jimbacus.net SOSS Aero Tow Event Photos Paul Naton <paul@radiocarbonart.com>, has posted some excellent photos of the SOSS aero tow event held at at Montague. http://radiocarbonart.com/Pages/ zmontepicsone.html http://radiocarbonart.com/Pages/ zmontepicstwo.html House of Balsa We received a snail mail request from long time subscriber, Joel Lefkowitz: Great article about House of Balsa 2x6! I would like to purchase kit. Perhaps you could forward address of manufacturer to me in order to do so. Not knowing the answer to the question, we asked B^2 and received the following response in short order! House of Balsa 10101 YUCCA ROAD ADELANTO, CA 92301 PHONE: 760-246-6462 They went on to say: We did a quick check and found that Tower carries the 2x4. They should have the 2x6 as well, but its not in their on-line catalog, at least that we can find. Order direct from <http:// www2.mailordercentral.com/ quantummodels/ products.asp?dept=21&pagenumber=2. Price is $29.95.

Joel should be able to get a kit from his local hobby shop, by special order if need be. There are a number of clubs which use the 2x6 as the kit in school aero courses, and its the kit used in the Boeing intern program. Yeah, 60 teenagers running around 60 Acres, each with their own airplane and radio gear... Special Thanks Theres always a lot going on behind the scenes. This past month, a special thanks is in order for Dave Register, who tackled a complex editorial task for me. Thanks, Dave! And Daves not the only one. The RCSD team always seems to be there when I need them, lending their technical expertise, answering computer questions, or sending something my way that they think may be of interest to most if not all of the readers. For example, the first two items of this editorial were sent in by B^2. Thanks for all each of you do! And, then theres Gordy. We always seem to know which state hes traveling through, next!
Happy Flying! Judy Slates

MIDWEST SLOPE CHALLENGE 2000

R Aircraft Renegade takes to the sky over beautiful Wilson Lake during the Midwest Slope Challenge, a special yearly event. Rich Loud is flying for the camera. Photography by Dave Garwood, New York.

Back Cover

THE LAST FLING

n annual event in Oklahoma, the Last Fling is held by the Tulsa RC Soaring Club. Jim & Mike enjoy this special event! Photo by Dave Register, Oklahoma.
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October 2003

circulates around the airfoil in a clockwise direction as a wing producing lift moves right to left. The coefficient of lift is directly proportional to this circulation. See Figure 1. According to Prandtls lifting line theory, you can visualize a wing moving through the air as simply a line connecting the two wing tips along the quarter chord line with horseshoe shaped vortices coming from it and extending back to infinity. In this model, both downwash and upwash are accounted for: the air inside the vortices is being deflected downward, and the air outside the vortices is being deflected upward. The actual lifting line calculations, however, are both complex and extensive. Schrenk expanded Prandtls lifting line theory to include taper, twist and control deflections, but not sweep. Multhopp expanded this theoretical framework further, but still did not fully account for the effects of sweep.

bsquared@appleisp.net http://www.b2streamlines.com Twist Distributions for Swept Wings, Part 5

talked about regarding the Horten designs is simply an artifact of this inability to accurately predict the sweep induced changes in circulation, specifically a loss of lift at the center. This middle effect is strictly an artifact of the computation methods and is an error in analysis. The middle effect is not the loss of lift in the center area of the wing, its the unanticipated loss of lift in the center area of the wing. Horten

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The Hortens, in an effort to coordinate stalling behavior and center of gravity The Horten twist distribution has been the with other planform parameters, focus thus far, but its now time to take a performed the necessary mathematical look at the twist distributions formulated computations, but always found errors by Irv Culver and Walter Panknin, make in their results. The aircraft did not some comparisons, and derive a few behave exactly as predicted because conclusions. the center of pressure was not at the location predicted. The Hortens The middle effect believed the problem to be related to the intersection of the two quarter irst, a small digression is necessary chord lines at the centerline, and in order to understand one remainenvisioned colliding vortices. They ing concept, the middle effect. The constructed bat tails which substanHortens later designs included tially increased the root chord. Their A swept wing can be viewed as a geometric modifications aimed at intent in using the bat tail was to series of connected small wings, the reducing or eliminating the middle reorient the quarter chord lines of the leading edge of each slightly behind effect. Irv Culvers twist distribution the leading edge of its inboard partner two wings and eliminate the colliding is specifically formulated to eliminate vortices. On the H IV, the quarter and in front of the leading edge of its the reduction in lift near the center of a outboard partner. Each small wing has chord lines meet at right angles to the swept back wing. Interestingly, the centerline, while on the H VI the an effect on the air flow of both its Hortens and Culver are trying to inboard and outboard partner, but the quarter chord lines actually bend counter two different phenomena. backward. Despite these changes to the effect on the outboard partner is very quarter chord line, the middle effect much greater than the effect on the As the wing moves through the air, the inboard partner. The upwash is not remained. Al Bowers has suggested air coming off the trailing edge is that the Hortens might have realized equal along the span but rather tends deflected downward. This is called the to progressively increase over the more they were looking in the wrong downwash. As the air approaches the outboard segments. (Weve illustrated direction had they actually flown their wing, it moves up slightly to meet the Parabola design. this concept in previous portions of wing. This is called the upwash. Weve this article series.) already illustrated these two properties Despite their problems getting a in previous portions of this article Schrenks approximation does not handle on the middle effect, the series, pointing out the angle of attack accurately portray a swept wing, and Horten twist distribution has the is directly related to the position of the therefore does not account for the loss potential to reduce induced drag and stagnation point. of circulation and associated loss of lift allow turns to be accomplished without adverse yaw. But aircraft will at the root and the increase of circulaIf you look at an airfoil traveling operate as Dr. Horten envisioned only tion and associated increase of lift at through the air, youll see that the air when all of the design parameters are the wing tips. moving over the upper surface is utilized: moderate sweep angle, large moving faster than the wing is moving Multhopps method of determining the taper ratio, carefully chosen airfoils through the air. So too, the air along (pitching moment), strong nonlinear lift distribution, which involves the lower surface is moving slower established control points based on twist distribution, bell-shaped span than the wing is moving through the central difference angles, does not load (lift distribution), and outboard air. From a vector mathematics peraccount for sweep either, but was used ailerons of defined size and configuraspective, if you subtract the velocity of by the Hortens as the best available tion. the wing from the two air flows, the air model at the time. The H-II was the over the upper surface is still moving first of the Horten aircraft to use a bell- The Horten twist distribution is such from leading to trailing edge, but the shaped, sinx, lift distribution, an that the wing twist is concentrated air along the bottom of the wing is outgrowth of the Multhopp paradigm. over the outer portion of the wing, in moving backward toward the leading the area where the sweep generated edge. From this perspective, the air The middle effect which is so often upwash is greatest. Computing the

R/C Soaring Digest

method of creating a twisted wing is to use a single foam core and root and tip templates. Twist is then imparted by setting the two templates at the appropriate angles relative to each other. Cutting with a tensioned hot wire always creates a wing with straight leading and trailing edges. This is quick and simple, but the angle of twist does not change consistently across the semispan. Rather, the angle changes at a more rapid rate near the root for wings with no taper, and near the wing tip if the wing is moderately tapered. As Culver uses wings with moderate taper in an effort to better achieve an elliptical lift distribution, it is the latter situation which Culver wants to avoid. In an effort to compensate for the loss of lift in the center area of a swept back wing, Culver proposes placing most of the twist in the inboard 30% of the semispan, say eight degrees. Three more degrees of twist are then imparted in the outer 70% of the semi-span for a total of eleven degrees. The increased angle of attack at the root increases the lift in that area. This allows the up trim of the elevons to be reduced, increasing the lift in that area as well. The Culver twist therefore requires constructing the semi-span of a foam wing in two parts rather than as a single panel. As the sweep angle is increased, the Culver twist distribution calls for more twist. As the Culver twist distribution is aimed at maintaining an elliptical lift distribution at the design coefficient of lift, this is in keeping with the increased upwash which is anticipated will occur over the outer portion of the wing. In flight, specially designed elevons are used to trim for low coefficients of lift. As the aircraft approaches a stall attitude, the root will stall first while the wing tips remain well below their
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twist distribution is a rather complicated affair, and weve been so far unable to obtain formulae of use to modelers. Mathematically inclined readers may be interested in Reinhold Stadlers paper, Solutions for the BellShaped Lift Distribution. Culver Unfortunately, Irv Culver did not write a comprehensive treatise on his twist formula. Rather, his description of its use is sparse, and its derivation not explained in any detail. Still, it is possible to understand the general thoughts behind Culvers paradigm.

Although Culver did not specifically mention the middle effect, he did realize that lift of a swept wing is depressed in the area of the root. To compensate, some amount of up trim is required of the outboard elevons, depressing the lift generated by that area of the wing as well. Performance is substantially reduced as a result. In Culvers view, the ideal is to make the center portion of the wing produce more lift and thereby allow the wing tips to create more lift. At the design coefficient of lift, the lift distribution is near elliptical. Another digression... The most simple

October 2003

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R/C Soaring Digest

October 2003

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stall angle. This makes a full stall across the entire span very unlikely. There are a few limitations to the Culver twist distribution: it is accurate only for wings of modest sweep and taper, and the recommended design lift coefficient is for very high compared with other methodologies, particularly that of Dr. Walter Panknin. Since the Culver twist distribution is based on maintaining a near elliptical lift distribution, adverse yaw may be noticeable, particularly around the design coefficient of lift. There are reports stating that swept wing aircraft utilizing the Culver twist distribution are both spin-proof and tumble-proof, and there is also at least one report stating the Culver twist distribution was incorporated into the wings of a number of Boeing commercial aircraft. These reports have not been corroborated by secondary sources, and it should be noted that Boeing commercial aircraft are of conventional tailed configuration and utilize both roll spoilers and rudder to counter adverse yaw. A six meter (236 inch) span swept wing model using an approximation of the Culver twist distribution was constructed in Germany in 1987. The Stromburg wing utilized the Eppler 220 for the outboard portion of the wing and the Eppler 210 at the root, and had a sweep angle of 28.5 degrees. The twist angle at the root was 11.5 degrees, going to zero degrees at station .167 and remaining at zero degrees to the wing tip. Elevons consisted of Junkers flaps from station .833 outboard. This model performed extremely well, and was large enough to have a movie camera mounted at the CG and directed at the center section. Films taken during flight showed no air flow separation at the root during cruise, turning, high speed flight, or landing.

Panknin Dr. Panknin derived his twist paradigm from a paper by Helmut Schenk. Using airfoil zero lift angles and

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pitching moments, span and chords, sweep angle and static margin, a pitch stable tailless aircraft can be assured. The method relies heavily on Multhopps approximation of the lift

R/C Soaring Digest

distribution, but includes a correction by D. Kuechemann so that it has good accuracy for sweep values for zero to beyond 30 degrees. (Schenk states the middle effect still exists using these calculations.) The Panknin methodology provides only the total twist required for longitudinal stability for a given monolithic wing with straight leading and trailing edges and a predetermined static margin. The computed twist values have been proven in practice to be extremely accurate for sweep angles of up to 30 degrees, tapered or constant chord wing. Like the Culver formulae, the Panknin method lends itself quite easily to both custom written computer programs and commercially available spreadsheet software. In fact, a scientific calculator is sufficient when there are no time constraints. The defined twist angle can be used on a moderately tapered wing using the foam core construction method described previously, with straight leading and trailing edges from root to tip. Successful applications, however, include planforms with constant chord in which the twist begins at station 0.5, half the semispan, placing more of the twist over the outboard portion of the wing.

tional planform attributes. The Culver twist distribution is centered on the elliptical lift distribution. This is a conservative approach which provides relatively low drag and good efficiency within a confined design point, but may be prone to adverse yaw, particularly when operating at the design coefficient of lift. The Panknin twist distribution has proven itself over a nearly two decade period to be an accurate determiner of both required wing twist and center of gravity location. It has been used with great success by a very large number of international designers. Its major limitation is that it calculates only the twist required for pitch stability, but it can be used as a fundamental method of determining the approximate minimum twist required for a preliminary design. Figure 2A shows the elliptical lift distribution for a conventional crosstailed design as seen from behind. The fuselage and vertical surface have been neglected. Figure 2B shows the downwash pattern this lift distribution produces. Keep in mind the internal structure of the wing is required to support both itself and a fuselage and tail structure. Additionally, the fuselage must be strong enough to support itself and the mass and aerodynamic loads of the tail.

When designing a tailless planform, the type of twist distribution to be used should be one of the first decisions to be considered, and always relative to other aspects of the design such as prescribed task, design lift coefficient, and planform. There are a number of design flowcharts available to assist the novice designer, and we very much encourage readers to investigate their usefulness. The information presented in this series can be used to augment these resources and assist in developing viable, and perhaps cutting edge, designs. __________ Ideas for future columns are always welcome. RCSD readers can contact us by mail at P.O. Box 975, Olalla WA 98359-0975, or by e-mail at <bsquared@appleisp.net>. References, complete:

October 2003

Allen, Michael. <http://pr.erau.edu/ ~allenm/wing.html> Anderson, John D. Jr. Introduction to flight. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1985. . Fundamentals of aerodynamics. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1984. Bowers, Al. Correspondence within <http://www.nurflugel.com> email list and private correspondence, 2000-2003. All of Dr. Panknins designs, and our . The Horten H X series: ultra light own designs based on Dr. Panknins flying wing sailplanes. TWITT paradigm, incorporate winglets. These Newsletter, Andy Kecskes, editor, vertical surfaces assist in reducing These factors, taken in combination, No. 148 October 1998, No. 149 oscillations in yaw in straight and level paint a picture of a relatively heavy November 1998, No. 150 December flight and act to reduce adverse yaw at aircraft with substantial surface and 1998. TWITT, El Cajon CA. the expense of some increase in drag. interference drag. Additionally, there . Manned flight - past, present, As weve stated in previous columns, is the surface and induced drag of the future. TWITT Newsletter, Andy thermal machines seem to climb better separate relatively low aspect ratio Kecskes, editor, No. 190 April 2002. with winglets, racers track better with horizontal and vertical stabilizers. In TWITT, El Cajon CA. a single vertical fin mounted on the flight, large amounts of drag are Carmichael, Bruce. Personal aircraft created in an effort to make coordicenterline. drag reduction. Self published, San nated turns. Given this perspective, the Clemente California USA, 1995. Conclusions possibility of more efficient aerodyCoffey, Aaron. Culver twist distribunamics, as seen in Figure 2C, is obvition spreadsheets. <http:// All three twist distributions have both ous. www.b2streamlines.com/ positive and negative aspects. Culver.html> While a specially tailored single Culver, Irv. Tailless -flying wings. The Horten twist distribution is based surface wing may be necessary to TWITT Newsletter, Andy Kecskes, on the work of Prandtl and others, and achieve this goal, a well integrated editor, No. 201 March 2003. has been supported by the more recent design approach for tailless aircraft is TWITT, El Cajon CA. (Reprint of works of R.T. Jones and Klein and certainly very close, as demonstrated article originally published in No. Viswanathan. The Horten paradigm by the recent articles by Katherine Diaz 4, September/October 1986.) has the potential to reduce induced in Pilot Journal and Carl Hoffman in de Piolenc, F. Marc. Flying wing drag and eliminate adverse yaw, but is Popular Science. It is only a matter of design flowchart. TWITT Newsletcomputationally intensive and the time before such design paradigms ter, F. Marc de Piolenc, editor, No. twist distribution itself must be used in and appropriate construction technolo2 July 1986. TWITT, El Cajon CA. combination with a number of addigies are available to modelers.
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Diaz, Katherine. The call of the wild. Pilot Journal, May/June 2003, pp. 78-87. Werner Publishing Corporation, Los Angeles. Dommasch, Daniel O., Sydney S. Sherby and Thomas F. Connolly. Airplane aerodynamics. Putnam Publishing Corporation, New York, 1951. Donlan, Charles J., compiler. An interim report on the stability and control of tailless airplanes. NACA Report No 796, 1944. Eppler, Richard. Airfoil design and data. Springer Verlag, New York, 1990. Ewald, Bernd. Will we have a Horten flying wing in the air again? VGC News No. 104, Winter 2000. Vintage Gliding Club, Somerset Great Britain Faye, Robert, Robert Laprete and Michael Winter. Blended winglets for improved airplane performance. AERO 17, pp. 16-31. Available at <http:// www.boeing.com/commercial/ aeromagazine/aero_17/ winglets.pdf> Fonteneau, Glyn. Panknin twist distribution spreadsheet. <http:// www.b2streamlines.com/ Panknin.html> Gal, Ferdinando. Tailless tail. B2Streamlines, Olalla Washington USA, 1991. Harrison, Joa. Panknin twist distribution spreadsheet. <http:// www.b2streamlines.com/ Panknin.html> Hoerner, Dr.-Ing. S.F. and H.V. Borst. Fluid-dynamic lift. Hoerner fluid dynamics, Vancouver Washington USA, 1985. Hoffman, Carl. The shape of wings to come. Popular Science, October 2003 and <http:// www.popsci.com/popsci/aviation/article/ 0,12543,483523,00.html> Horten, Dr. Reimar. Lift distribution on flying wing aircraft. Soaring, June 1981, pp. 40-42. Hurt, H.H. Jr. Aerodynamics for naval aviators. Published as NAVWEPS 00-80T-80 by the U.S. Navy, 1965. Jones, Bradley. Elements of Practical Aerodynamics, third edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1942. Jones, Robert T. Notes on the stability and control of tailless airplanes. NACA Technical Note No. 837, 1941.
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_. The spanwise distribution of lift for minimum induced drag of wings having a given lift and a given bending moment, NACA TN 2249, 1950. . Minimizing induced drag. Soaring, Oct 1979, pp. 26-29. . Wing theory. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ USA, 1990. Kermode, A.C. Mechanics of flight. Pitman, London, 1980. Klein, Armin and Sathy P. Viswanathan. Approximate solution for minimum induced drag of wings with given structural weight. Journal of Aircraft, Feb 1975, pp. 124-126. Kuechemann, D. A simple method for calculating the span and chordwise loading on straight and swept wings of any given aspect ratio at subsonic speeds. R.A.E. Reports and Memoranda Nr. 2935, August 1952. Lennon, A.G. Andy. R/C model airplane design. Motorbooks International, Osceola Wisconsin USA, 1986. Kirschbaum, Nathan. On-the-board design progression. Aircraft Design Education Newsletter, W.H. Mason, editor, Vol. 2, No. 1, December 1, 1991. Blacksburg VA. Masters, Norm. Correspondence within <http:// www.nurflugel.com> e-mail list, 2000-2003. Maughmer, Mark D. The design of winglets for high-performance sailplanes. AIAA 2001-2406, Washington D.C., 2001. <http:// www.mandhsoaring.com/articles/ Winglet_Design.pdf> . About winglets. Soaring, June 2002, and <http:// www.mandhsoaring.com/articles/ WL-Soaring.pdf> (133K) and Peter J. Kunz. Sailplane winglet design. The Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Presented at the XXV OSTIV Congress, Saint Auban, France. <http:// www.mandhsoaring.com/articles/ ostiv97.pdf> , Timothy S. Swan, and Steve M. Willits. The design and testing of a winglet airfoil for low-speed aircraft. AIAA 2001-2478, Washington D.C., 2001. <http:// www.mandhsoaring.com/articles/ Winglet_Testing.pdf>

McCormick, Barnes W. Aerodynamics, aeronautics, and flight mechanics. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1979. Morris, S. J. Integrated aerodynamics and control system design for tailless aircraft. AIAA-92-4604, Washington D.C., 1992. Multhopp, Hans. Die berechnung der Auftriebsverteilung von Tragflgeln. 1938. Munk, M. The minimum induced drag of airfoils, NACA Report 121, 1921. Nickel, Karl, and Michael Wohlfahrt. Tailless aircraft in theory and practice. American Institute of Aerodynamics and Astronautics, Washington D.C., 1994. Nurflugel e-mail list. Correspondence from multiple authors regarding elliptical and bell-shaped lift distributions, June 18 through June 26, 2003. Panknin, Dr. Walter. Flying rainbows. Proceedings MARCS Symposium 1989. Al Scidmore, editor. Madison Area Radio Control Society, Madison WI, 1990. Perkins, Courtland D. and Robert E. Hage. Airplane performance, stability and control. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1949. Prandtl, L. Applications of modern hydrodynamics to aeronautics. NACA Report 116, 1921. . Uber Tragflgel des kleinsten induzierten Widerstandes. Zeits Flugeltechnik und Motorluftschiffahrt, Vol. 24, pp. 305-306, Nov 1933. Raymer, Daniel P. Aircraft design: a conceptual approach. AIAA Education Series, Washington, DC, 1992. Schenk, Helmut. Laengsmomentenrechnung beim Nurfluegel-Modell. Self published, Pforzheim, Germany, publication date unknown (acquired 1996). Schnherr, Prof. M. Das StromburgPrinzip Ein versuch, 7 Nurflgelprobleme zu lsen. Faszination Nurflgel, HansJrgen Unverferth, editor. Verlag fr Technik and Handwerk GmbH, Baden-Baden Germany, 1989. Schrenk, Oskar. A simple approximation method for obtaining the spanwise lift distribution. NACA Technical Memorandum No. 948, 1940.

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Shevell, Richard S. Fundamentals of flight. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ USA, 1983. Simons, Martin. Model aircraft aerodynamics. Argus Books, Hemel Hempstead Great Britain, 1994. . Airflow. AE Press, Melbourne, 1984. Smith, H.C. Skip. The illustrated guide to aerodynamics, second edition. TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit Pennsylvania USA, 1992. Stackhouse, Don. Correspondence within <http:// www.nurflugel.com> e-mail list, 2000-2003 Stadler, Reinhold. Solutions for the bell-shaped lift distribution.Selfpublished, 1996. <http:// www.nurflugel.com/Nurflugel/ Papers/h_ca_01e.pdf> Sutherland, Alasdair. Basic aeronautics for modellers. Traplet Publications, Worcestershire UK, 1995. Thies, Werner. Eppler-Profile, MTB 1. Verlag fr Technik and Handwerk GmbH, Baden-Baden Germany, 1983.

Tucker, Chuck, J. J. Quinn, Barnaby Wainfan and Walter Boyne. Flying wings. Flight Journal, October 2003, pp. 24-44. Air Age Inc., Ridgefield CT. Wegener, Peter P. What makes airplanes fly? Springer Verlag, New York, 1991. The White Sheet, Spring 1986, No. 36. Sean Walbank, editor. White Sheet Radio Flying Club, Dorset Somerset Great Britain. Wills, C. Horten - the truth. VGC News, (Part 1) No. 105, Spring 2002 pp. 40-42, and (Part 2) No. 106, Summer 2002, pp. 36-38. Vintage Gliding Club, Somerset Great Britain. Wooldridge, E.T. Winged wonders, the story of flying wings. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C, 1988.

SP

R IN G T IM E

A MONTHLY LOOK INTO THE WORLD OF SAILPLANE ENTHUSIASTS EVERYWHERE

R/C Soaring Digest (RCSD) is a reader-written monthly publication for the R/C sailplane enthusiast. Published since 1984, RCSD is dedicated to the sharing of technical and educational information related to R/C soaring. RCSD encourages new ideas, thereby creating a forum where modelers can exchange concepts and share findings, from theory to practical application. Article topics include design and construction of RC sailplanes, kit reviews, airfoil data, sources of hard to find items, and discussions of various flying techniques, to name just a few. Photos and illustrations are always in abundance. There are RCSD subscribers worldwide.
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Page 11

Hidden Treasure in the Balsa Dungeon

by Paula Garwood

Attention ladies, there is valuable stuff in your RC flyers workshop.

call my husbands workshop the balsa dungeon. Early on, I was a little pissed because he put so much work into building the benches and putting up shelves and lights and electrical outlets, but I soon found myself down there snooping around and finding all kinds of cool supplies and tools, not to mention what an efficient work space for those tasks you want to protect your carpet from. I am a crafter, thread bender, artist. Im always trying out new techniques. Im also the yardman, handyman, plumber, painter, carpenter, and maid at our house. The treasure in the balsa dungeon has made my life easier. Some of the items hidden down there were so cool or so useful to me I had to have my own - like the heat gun. I Goop: fix flapping soled sneakers, wore out three of Daves heat guns so seal the base to the dome of handhe finally bought me my own. I also made snow globe. had to have my own Dremel tool and balsa strip cutter, mini files, small CA: fix deeply torn fingernails, also plane, drill and bits, and miniature keeps cuts too deep for a Band pliers set. Sharing can be over rated. Aid closed, repairs broken pottery and dishes - and all in about 30 Ill list the tools and supplies Ive used seconds. over the years and what I used them for, but feel I have to tell one little Epoxy (and epoxy fillers like story about how my husband and the milled fiberglass): fix handmade tools in the balsa dungeon saved my wooden knitting swift for winding sanity. skeins of yarn (basically had to fill a worn wooden threads and re-bore I had broken a bone in my foot and so the swift could be clamped to a had a walking cast. It wasnt too bad, I table). This repair saved and could get around and even drive my beautifully hand crafted wooden standard shift car. I was supposed to tool that would have been expenwear the cast for six weeks. Well, after sive to replace. Repair antique chair five weeks and five days I went that had chunks of wood missing, completely nuts. I couldnt stand the preventing broken parts from cast one minute longer. It was itchy interlocking and supporting the and hot and uncomfortable and the seat. Used epoxy and micro balcast was making sleep almost imposloons for creating missing wood. sible. I was TOTALLY freaking out and had to have the cast off IMMEDIDrill I probably drilled a thousand ATELY. After calling the doctor and holes in the house and in projects over getting permission, Dave sawed my the last 20 years. cast off with the Dremel tool and prevented my head from exploding. Soldering tools - fix broken jewelry, make new original jewelry, fix the Specialized adhesives: wiring on the clothes dryer. Tan carpenters glue: fix furniSmall saws, files, X-acto ture, fix broken wooden knitting knives, pliers, large and small needles (I break a lot of knitting screwdrivers - cut and shape small, needles), bind handmade books.

delicate items, cut out stencils, emergency orthodontia repairs. Excellent for working with polymer clay before and after curing. Specialized tape - wrap packages, bind or repair books, seal gaps between the window frame and air conditioners. The special Mylar tape that the flyers use to hinge the ailerons or flaps or whatever those control panels are on the wings is also great for hinging anything. Its one of my favorites. Heat-shrink tubing - fix circular knitting needles, encapsulate soldered or glued stuff (like knitting needles or washing machine wiring harness). Small clamps (holding items while glue sets up) - convenient for fixing frames, book bindings, all the obvious hold this stuff. Dowels - make knitting needles, curtain rods, quilt hangers, furniture repair, plugs for when you goof and measure once and drill twice. Heat gun - dry paint, remove paint, remove labels from boxes and envelopes so you can reuse them, remove stamps that didnt get postmarked for reuse. Shrink plastic wrap for gift baskets. For those in the know crafters shrink Shrinky Dink

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lighted bench in the laundry dungeon. Like I said before, sharing is over rated. Now ladies, dont think for a minute that this is a one-way street. I showed Dave the joys of using a hot-melt glue gun, and I keep him in waxed paper and paper towels. I say support The Old Man so that he keeps buying glue and dowels and sandpaper and the stuff we need.

artifacts. Melt embossing powder for rubber stamping, dry the ink when rubber stamping. Covering iron - fuse covering for book/journal making. Use with fusible web to repair wallpaper -anything you might want to use your iron for on a vertical or small surface or something you dont want to use your regular iron for since you use it on your clothes. Be careful though, it doesnt have the sophisticated temperature control that your domestic iron does. Dremel rotary tool - buff stuff, sand small places on furniture or your wooden creations, remove orthopedic casts (maybe to get your doctors permission). Balsa Strip Cutter - for cutting masking tape into 1/4" strips for quilting guides. Scroll Saw - easily cut wood (dowels to 2x4s) for craft projects or home repairs. Mini Plane - shape and rough finish polymer clay projects to save on the sanding. Sand Paper - sanding anything or everything. I have become such a frequent visitor to the balsa dungeon, that I started to nag a little about more bench space for myself. I did manage to get Dave to light up my side of the basement so that I now have my own wellOctober 2003 Page 13

The Slopers Resource

By Greg Smith of slopeflyer.com greg@slopeflyer.com http://www.slopeflyer.com

ave Garwood recently sent me a note from a guy who is just learning to fly R/C and how he found happiness at the slope after the frustrating experiences he had trying to learn to fly with electric powered R/C planes. It reminded me of my experiences learning to ski in the Midwest. FYI, I learned to fly R/C at the slope in the early 80s so I can only share by association the frustrations of learning to fly any other way! Here in the Midwest we obviously get snow, and we have hills, so it seems that learning to ski should be a nobrainer. Problem is the hills are all small, 300 vertical or less, and just when you start getting the hang of it, you are at the bottom! Then, wait in line 10-15 minutes to get back to the top, forget what you just learned and do it all over again, falling most of the way. Didnt help that the snow was really more like ice. Out West, the scenario is totally different. Thousands of vertical feet mean you get a lot more time to ski on your way down and as you get up

from each fall you find yourself being able to go longer between falls because you can get at it again right away. I learned more about skiing in two days at Heavenly Valley in California than in 3 years of face plants in the Midwest. And so it goes with R/C flying. Sloping is like that beautiful mountain at Heavenly Valley; you get a lot of airtime without all the peripheral distractions like charging the motor battery or gassing up the plane just to be in the air for 5 minutes. Then, you have to start all over. In the 20 minutes of prep time between flights you can forget a lot! At the slope picking up the EPP wing and tossing it back out in the lift is like getting up on the ski slope after a fall with 3 more miles of run left. Youve got a long time to learn. You can learn more at the slope over a weekend than in a whole season at the local power field. Sure, people do learn to ski in the Midwest, it happens all the time. Just like people learn to fly R/C at the local park or at the power field. However I cant help but think that the joy of flight is somewhat diminished by the frustration that accompanies all the hassles that go with learning to fly in

Gregs Brian McLean Extreme crusing over Lake Michigan. Photo: Mirko Bodul.

an environment where the reward for all your hard work and prep time is a 3 to 5 minute flight and, likely as not, a plane you have to repair after that short period of time. It will also probably take more time than the 10minute ride to the top of the ski hill to repair that plane and have another go. BTW, I have a nominee for a great first slope plane: the Weasel from Richter R/C at www.flyweasel.com. It was extensively reviewed, and construction notes were reported, in RCSD, a couple of months back so you may have already heard of it. I have been flying one for a couple of months now. One cool thing about the Weasel is it is a great advanced pilots plane too. Just move the CG back and it goes from stable, predictable beginners plane to a super aerobatic performer. I have had it in winds as light as 4 and as heavy as 25. I even had a chance the DS it on a recent trip to South Dakota! It always works well. It is also one of the easiest planes to fly inverted that I own. It lets me fly when I otherwise could not and at slopes that are not suitable for any other plane. All this in a 36-inch span glider that stows anywhere! Cool!
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Me and my Weasel at the Big Bay slope in Mlwaukee. Photo: Mirko Bodul.

Time to wrap it up. Until next time, here is a little thought for you courtesy of the New York Slope Dogs: Talks Cheap, Lets Fly! This months links: Richter R/C http://www.flyweasel.com McLean Extreme http://www.mccomposites.com

ZIKA

The wind finally started to pick up here in Milwaukee and we have had a couple of good days at the slope recently. Besides flying the Weasel regularly, I have had some great flights with my molded McLean Extreme. Brian has a winner with this one! The new Extreme would definitely be at the top of my list if anyone ever gave me the dreadful ultimatum, You can only have one slope plane for the rest of your life; which one is it going to be?
October 2003

Zika

G SO ONE AR IN

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GORDYS TRAVELS
Gordy Stahl Louisville, Kentucky GordySoar@aol.com

And I didnt believe their advice; more importantly I didnt do a range test... Actually I never have, not once in all my time in the hobby.

Home in - On the Range... Check!

We often have heard about how important doing a simple range check is to check up on our transmitters connection to our sailplanes receiver and, pretty much, we all know how to do it... But that was the good old days. I recently had one of those months, definitely a trip I hope I never experience again. Two brand new molded planes destroyed after just a few flights. I had heard of planes having reception problems due to high carbon content in their fuselages but most of the reports were from Europe. Now I guess that makes sense, because Euros tend to only fly molded planes with mostly carbon fuselages and, until recently, we flew mostly Kevlar fuselages. It seems the worst signal blanking problems occur in planes which use a coarse weave, sort of like burlap, cross carbon/Kevlar weave. The material seems to create a choke which kills the transmitters signal in the receivers antenna, in effect cutting its length. And that means lost range. I went to the web site focused on the molded planes I had, and read the comments and articles about how it was important to route the antenna outside the fuselage... But since I knew so much about the hobby, I didnt really read the articles in detail.
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So, I lost the first model almost on the first day of flying. I was getting glitched but the plane seemed to be flying okay. Until I got a little further away and it went in hard. I remembered something about having the antenna outside the fuse so, on the next model, I ran it outside the canopy and along the fuselage tail boom but again, no range check. I flew this one a few times and it had some problems, but it seemed to fly far out okay. Then finally it went in. Fortunately, it landed in a hay field and sustained pretty minor damage. That night I went back to the web site and read the notes more carefully. The first thing I found there was this note: Dont run the antenna out the canopy. Its almost as bad as running it in the fuse! Dup! After reading more, I found that they had done lots of real world testing, finding alternative routings for the antenna. One key factor in their success was to get the antenna not only outside the fuselage but away from the fuselage.

of carbon. They had found that they could use the 9th pin of their 9 pin D connector to route the antenna into each side of the wing. They also found it didnt work on the full carbon lay-up wing that I had. I was pretty fed up with guesses, so I decided to figure out my own range test. I own a Picalario Talking Altimeter which has a glitch warning feature. That means if the servos get to jiggling, a lady announces, Attention, Attention, Attention. This meant I had a tool to specifically gauge range loss during a standard range test. I went to the park, set up the plane in my Super-Stand, and sat down to think about the best way to perform the range test. I decided that I needed to find a benchmark to start from - a set up that would provide me with an antenna down, measured distance. I figured that if I took the receiver out of the plane, and then plugged in 6 servos and battery, with the antenna hanging free of any obstruction, that should be the cleanest possible set up for my distance range test. With the Picalario plugged, I paced off 350 before I got an Attention. Wow! I had tried a test the way I had been flying it and that produced about 35.

The web site mentioned the best they had found was to run the antenna in I also heard from some other guys here the fuse, exiting the fuselage top just behind the trailing edge of the wing, who had run into the problems with range with the same model. Now dont adding at least the amount of wire that was inside to the wire extended even think its just this particular outside. Then, to run the wire up to the model, because I have since heard of top of the vertical stabilizer, letting the other models using the same weave material. Some guys in Denver had the rest trail behind. Uck! But better than losing the plane, so I decided to add same plane but the light version about 20 instead of just the 10 in the which mainly had a lighter wing with only the area forward of the spar made fuse, then to trim back till it affected
R/C Soaring Digest

the optimum range. Okay, so with all of the on board stuff hooked back up, the RX in the plane, and the antenna routed in the fuse to just behind the wing to exit, extended that 20, I began my tests. Each time I got the optimum, I would trim off an inch. I didnt want a bunch of wire flopping around the back of my plane. Sure enough, I got to where the antenna was 2 longer than the

have been actually enjoying the best possible range. Your TX antenna (top mount) should be completely collapsed, which will leave only the first segment extended. Inny mount antennas, which collapse completely into the TX, leave one segment up, about 6. The idea is to find out what the best possible range is, then to try to reach that with your antenna location.

Our sailplanes are expensive but mostly they are hard to replace; its worth it to take some extreme precautions to protect them. Give it a try and I think youll be less likely to stumble with your next soaring adventure. Oh yeah, I said, Two new molded sailplanes destroyed. The second one worked so well that I flew the battery out. I guess I still have a lot to learn. Coming down the road is a review on a new FM, Channel Synthesized, Digital Signal Processing, Micro 8 channel Receiver, which allows you to pre-scan the frequency you are set on to see if someone else is on that frequency. It will also allow you to maintain control of your model if someone else turns a TX on your frequency! See you next trip!

tiptop of the vertical and I still had full range. Just to double check, having it taped to the outside of the tail boom would have a negative effect on range, I taped it along the boom, with the excess dangling. Almost all that range was lost. The wires total length ended up being almost exactly the same amount that was inside the fuselage. Its not the good ole days anymore, things have changed, definitely for the better. Those fuselages are super stiff, light and durable, but they can cause some radio range problems if not understood and measures taken to insure clean reception. If you have one of the new breed molded planes, take the time to set up with the RX and servos outside the fuselage. If you dont own a Picalario, just have someone stand by your model to signal you when they see a problem. Move only one surface consistently, and then start counting your paces to find your systems optimum potential range. Load everything back inside, including the antenna wire as you have in the past. Then do the test again to see if you
October 2003

SCHEDULE OF SPECIAL EVENTS

November 29-30, 2003 Tangerine Soaring Orlando, FL Championships www.orlandobuzzards.org

Please send in your scheduled 2004 events as they become available!

Things like carbon or steel pushrods, powerful servos are also considerations for decreasing range. Using Torrodial Rings (iron rings), electronic chokes, etc., can cut down on jiggles caused by signal feedback from long servo leads and power wing servos; but jiggles can also be an indicator that it might be wise to get more serious about antenna placement. PCM radios mask interference and signal loss, creating a sort of ignorance is bliss situation for some modelers. Do your range testing with a non-PCM system. Then, once you have determined your best receiver antenna location, reinstall your PCM.

GO SOA NE RIN

ZIKA

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Please read no further unless you are interested in AMA Politics.

By Dr. Sandy Frank - AMA Life Member #L-69 105 N. Brazos Weatherford, TX 76086-3207 Phone/Fax: (817) 599-7131 E-mail: sfrank69@airmail.net

OW it is Executive Council (AMA Board of Directors) election time in the AMA District VIII region. Each adult AMA member (almost 19,000) who reside within the states of: Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana will be sent a ballot (to save outgoing postage this ballot is enclosed within their 2004 membership renewal paperwork). It is NOT required that you submit your 2004 membership renewal at the same time as your ballot. In fact your renewal and your vote MUST be sent to separate locations to be properly processed (AND COUNTED).

Your input via your vote is needed and Please vote. important! I have been an aeromodeler since my Elsewhere you will be seeing the earliest recollections, an AMA member political rhetoric and campaign since 1957, and have built, flown, promises of all the candidates in this competed with and enjoyed, all types election! of C/L, F/F and R/C model aircraft. As a child, I was taught about modelPlease read it to help you choose who ing and over the following 39 years I to vote for... Or if you choose to, please have learned and experienced the contact the candidates directly and personal fulfillment of AMA volunteer personally to ask any questions which work at the local, regional and national you may have of them and their volunteer levels. candidacy. As a means by which to better serve (I gladly publish my contact informathe AMA members and all modelers of tion and would be HAPPY to discuss District VIII, in 1999 I conceived, this election with anyone at anytime!) organized, and produced the first Southwestern Aeromodeling ConferHistorically only 10% to 12% of the ence in Arlington, TX. (SWAC 2003 eligible membership votes in these Oct. 3rd - 4th) All profits will once elections. again go to AMA projects and initiatives (within the 5 state region of AMA Many just do not BOTHER to VOTE! District VIII). So please vote! Your vote is needed and important!

I have been successful in my personal career as a Licensed Psychologist (Ph.D.) and have owned and operated It is by YOUR vote that you can a private practice, but am now semi express how much you really care retired. My record on Council for the about your AMA organization, and its past six years is solid proof of my Each year literally thousands of AMA mission and its goals and its objectives. extensive leadership, management, election ballots are improperly sent to and representational skills. I can, and the AMA Headquarters enclosed Please read no further unless you are will, continue to devote the time, within their membership renewal. interested in AMA Politics... energy, and effort required to represent YOU well to the AMA Board of (Some have told me that they thought Directors. that they were saving AMA postage by Please read no further unless you are interested in AMA Politics... sending these together by enclosing Your vote is needed and important! their ballot within their membership Please read no further unless you are renewal paperwork.) interested in AMA Politics... I will support no dues increases or AMA instigated lawsuits. I will This is NOT at all THE CASE as YOUR HERE is where I stand and WHAT I continue to place local modeling VOTE MUST be sent to a separate stand for!!! support (especially flying site assisaddress where the auditors indepentance) as AMAs highest priority, and dently tally the votes. So PLEASE use And please consider the following... work to even further open communicathe postage paid postcard to cast your tions between the AMA and all of its ballot - just mark it and drop in into sfrank69@airmail.net wrote: members. the mail. (It is pre-addressed and postage paid and will get to the Hello, Your vote for me will be a vote for auditors.) progressive and dynamic representaI am Dr. Sandy Frank of Weatherford, tion of each and every member of IF YOU ENCLOSE YOUR BALLOT TX. I am seeking your vote for reDistrict VIII, and sincerely appreciated. WITHIN YOUR RENEWAL PAPERelection as your AMA District VIII I am available 24 X 7 X 365 to assist WORK AND SEND IT TO AMA representative to the AMA Board of you! HEADQUARTERS IN MUNCIE, Directors. In that capacity, I will INDIANA IT WILL NOT BE continue to insure that your thoughts, COUNTED AND WILL BE DEconcerns, and issues are brought STROYED. forward for consideration by the entire AMA Executive Council. The 2004The 2004-2006 term of office for the 2006 term of office will continue to AMA Board of Directors (Executive steer the course for AMA into the 21st Council) will set the course which Century. AMA takes into the 21st Century.
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Classified ads are free of charge to subscribers provided the ad is personal in nature and does not refer to a business enterprise. Classified ads that refer to a business enterprise are charged $5.00/ month and are limited to a maximum of 40 words. RCSD has neither the facilities or the staff to investigate advertising claims. However, please notify RCSD if any misrepresentation occurs. Personal ads are run for one month and are then deleted automatically. If you have items that might be hard to sell, you may run the ad for 2-3 months. PARACHUTES: $12.50 (includes S&H U.S.A.) Send check or money order to Dale King, 1111 Highridge Drive, Wylie, TX 75098; (972) 475-8093. Summary of Low-Speed Airfoil Data - Volume 3 is really two volumes in one book. Michael Selig and his students couldnt complete the book on series 3 before series 4 was well along, so decided to combine the two series in a single volume of 444 pages. This issue contains much that is new and interesting. The wind tunnel has been improved significantly and pitching moment measurement was added to its capability. 37 airfoils were tested. Many had multiple tests with flaps or turbulation of various configurations. All now have the tested pitching moment data included. Vol 3 is available for $35. Shipping in the USA add $6 for the postage and packaging costs. The international postal surcharge is $8 for surface mail to anywhere, air mail to Europe $20, Asia/Africa $25, and the Pacific Rim $27. Volumes 1 (1995) and 2 (1996) are also available, as are computer disks containing the tabulated data from each test series. For more information contact: SoarTech, Herk Stokely, 1504 N. Horseshoe Circle, Virginia Beach, VA 23451 U.S.A., phone (757) 428-8064, e-mail <herkstok@aol.com>. Internet soaring mailing listserve linking hundreds of soaring pilots worldwide. Send msg. containing the word "subscribe" to soaring-request@airage.com. The "digestified" version that combines all msgs. each day into one msg. is recommended for dial-up users on the Internet, AOL, CIS, etc. Subscribe using soaringdigest-request@airage.com. Post msgs. to soaring@airage.com. For more info., contact Michael Lachowski at mikel@airage.com. BBS/Internet Reference Material For Sale - Business

Classified Advertising Policy

T.W.I.T.T. is a non-profit organization whose membership seeks to promote the research and development of flying wings and other tailless aircraft by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences on an international basis. T.W.I.T.T. is affiliated with The Hunsaker Foundation which is dedicated to furthering education and research in a variety of disciplines. Full information package including one back issue of newsletter is $2.50 US ($3.00 foreign). Subscription rates are $20.00 (US) or $30.00 (Foreign) per year for 12 issues. T.W.I.T.T., P.O. Box 20430 El Cajon, CA 92021 www.twitt.org

T.W.I.T.T. (The Wing Is The Thing)

The League of Silent Flight (LSF) is an international fraternity of RC Soaring pilots who have earned the right to become members by achieving specific goals in soaring flight. There are no dues. Once you qualify for membership you are in for life. The LSF program consists of five Achievement Levels. These levels contain specific soaring tasks to be completed prior to advancement to the next level. Send for your aspirant form, today: League of Silent Flight c/o AMA P.O. Box 3028 Muncie, IN 47302-1028 U.S.A. http://www.silentflight.org

Sailplane Homebuilders Association (SHA) A Division of the Soaring Society of America The purpose of the Sailplane Homebuilders Association is to stimulate interest in full-size sailplane design and construction by homebuilders. To establish classes, standards, categories, where applicable. To desiminate information relating to construction techniques, materials, theory and related topics. To give recognition for noteworthy designs and accomplishments. SHA publishes the bi-monthly Sailplane Builder newsletter. Membership cost: $15 U.S. Student (3rd Class Mail), $21 U.S. Regular Membership (3rd Class Mail), $30 U.S. Regular Membership (1st Class Mail), $29 for All Other Countries (Surface Mail). Sailplane Homebuilders Association Dan Armstrong, Sec./Treas. 21100 Angel Street Tehachapi, CA 93561 U.S.A.

International Scale Soaring Association

There is a growing interest in scale soaring in the U.S. We are dedicated to all aspects of scale soaring. Scale soaring festivals and competitions all year. Source for information on plans, kits, accessories and other people interested in scale. For more information: web site: www.soaringissa.org

Books by Martin Simons: "World's Vintage Sailplanes, 1908-45", "Slingsby Sailplanes", "German Air Attach", "Sailplanes by Schweizer". Send inquiries to: Raul Blacksten, P.O. Box 307, Maywood, CA 90270, <raulb@earthlink.net>. To view summary of book info.: http://home.earthlink.net/~raulb

The Eastern Soaring League (ESL) is a confederation of Soaring Clubs, spread across the MidAtlantic and New England areas, committed to high-quality R/C Soaring competition. AMA Sanctioned soaring competitions provide the basis for ESL contests. Further guidelines are continuously developed and applied in a drive to achieve the highest quality competitions possible. Typical ESL competition weekends feature 7, or more, rounds per day with separate contests on Saturday and Sunday. Year-end champions are crowned in a two-class pilot skill structure providing competition opportunities for a large spectrum of pilots. Additionally, the ESL offers a Rookie Of The Year program for introduction of new flyers to the joys of R/C Soaring competition. Continuing with the 20+ year tradition of extremely enjoyable flying, the 1999 season will include 14 weekend competitions in HLG, 2-M, F3J, F3B, and Unlimited soaring events. Come on out and try the ESL, make some new friends and enjoy camaraderie that can only be found amongst R/C Soaring enthusiasts! ESL Web Site: http://www.e-s-l.org

October 2003

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